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The Delhi rape

As I travel the length and breadth of India, the reverberations from the Delhi gang rape are more than manifest. The country's opinion makers, prodded by determined demonstrators and clever pressure groups, are expressing genuine outrage at the gang rape. It is clearly a seminal moment as Port Arthur was in Oz.

The media, both traditional and social are on fire. It was a tweet of an arrested demonstrator from a police van that galvanised the demonstrators. The television burns with fierce debates with didactic moderators eschewing the appearance of impartiality. The studio moderators acclaim the young demonstrators and berate the politicians about the lack of safety for Indian women.

The act itself was vile. A young couple was set upon on a Delhi bus. It appears that the woman, a physiotherapy student, was so appalling raped and beaten that she died. Her male friend survived the attack. They both fought back and the murdered woman now is acclaimed as "India's Brave Heart".

In one sense, it is surprising that this case has become a cause célèbre. This is a country where periodic violence unimaginable in Australia occurs. Thousand of Sikhs died after a Sikh bodyguard assassinated Indira Ghandi. Thousands of Muslims were killed after some of their community seized and burned a train with loss of life. The birth pangs of the country in 1947 involved the mass murder and the forced relocation of millions. It is not a place where violence is unknown. Delhi is infamous for the violence against women. I do not know the country well enough to explain why this act of all others has been the catalyst for change. But it has. The world knows and is appalled by the Delhi gang rape and the country is reacting accordingly.

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It was not initially thus. I spoke to people (well men in Rajasthan) who were disdainful of "the fuss over nothing in Delhi". Early in the demonstration process, the country seemed more concerned with the heart attack suffered by a senior police officer at the picket line than the issue itself. But when a state governor urged girls to wear more modest clothing he was howled down. This was the moment when the momentum of the debate transformed. There now appears to be a widespread acknowledgement that things must change.

One issue is the sense of futility victims of sexual assault have when taking complaints to the police. So there are now urgent classes for the police in sensitisation to sexual assault. Our observation has been that there are virtually no woman police officers in public positions. Rather than run classes, I would humbly suggest that they employ more woman police officers and deploy them more publicly. This is a nation where the law requires 33 per cent of parliamentarians to be women. It is in this sense, more advanced than Australia. This public profile of women police has been beneficial to Australian policing and would assist in India.

The other reaction has been the lynch mob. The newspapers are full of blood curdling cries for hanging, chemical castration and other acts of vengeance. The most sober voice in the debate, the Womens' Commission rejects this. They are calling for certain, not extreme, punishment.

One final point is the question about the motives of the alleged perpetrators. Why? Some of the suspects have been identified as coming from a slum. What role did poverty play? Crime is more often linked to deprivation, mental illness and other social factors as much as punishment. Clearly the accused thought that they could escape punishment from the Indian police force. A notorious son of a politician is currently on the run after police, allegedly, let him slip away after a rape prosecution. But clearly there are some other more profound issues here which need to be teased out after the furore has abated.

This blog, "Godless Gross" is almost always concerned with issues of change. How do we move on from ancient beliefs, customs or behaviour that jar with modern attitudes? In India, a noisy and necessary self-examination is now taking place.

90 comments

I question the premise.

I this an issue about ancient beleifs, customer and behaviours? I think that would take an expert on India to answer that question. My limited knowledge of Indian traditional culture would lead me to suspect that this society did not traditionally tolerate rape.

I would be interested in any evidence otherwise.

Commenter

Robin

Location

Hornsby

Date and time

January 07, 2013, 1:05PM

Robin, from the little I know and what I've heard recently, I agree with you. There seems to be a long tradition of respecting women and that once this behaviour would have been unthinkable.

As Australia struggles with issues of violence in our communities (road rage, young men dying from being king hit, abuse on public transport) and violence against women, I'm also not convinced that we are in any position to make suggestions to another country.

On a lighter note, hope you're having fun Mr Gross!

Commenter

Kate G

Date and time

January 07, 2013, 1:45PM

Robin,

You are no doubt correct in your suggestion that Indian culture does not have a tradition of toleration for rape. However, the traditional attitudes in question probably relates to the perception of women in Indian society.

Start here, perhaps:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_India

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexism_in_India

This article from the Guardian casts a jouranlistic light on some of the current issues:

"In India, women and girls continue to be sold as chattels, married off as young as 10, burned alive as a result of dowry-related disputes and young girls exploited and abused as domestic slave labour," said Gulshun Rehman, health programme development adviser at Save the Children UK..."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/23/why-india-bad-for-women

Did you happen to see the reportage of the Pink Chaddi Campaign?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Chaddi_Campaign

Commenter

Geoff Edwards

Location

Flounceaux

Date and time

January 07, 2013, 4:26PM

" There seems to be a long tradition of respecting women"

Female infanticide is not showing respect to women, it is not a modern practice in India.

Commenter

Andrew R

Date and time

January 07, 2013, 6:06PM

Geoff,

What I am questioning is how traditional and ancient are these attitudes?

I am not saying that they are not, just that, without further information, I cannot say. It seems from some of my research that - for example - Sikh armies were sometimes commanded by women, that women have had leading ceremonial roles in temples and roles in secular authority in the past.

It could be that the attitudes we are seeing are neither traditional nor ancient.

All I am saying is that we should not assume anything like that without evidence.

Commenter

Robin

Location

Hornsby

Date and time

January 08, 2013, 8:35AM

The deeply misogynistic attitudes of the dominant Hindu culture in India are well documented. The British imperialist conquerors of India, not known themselves for feminism, decided that suttee was a practice that needed suppression. It was a bridge too far even for them.

All religions have a tradition of teaching respect for women if they adhere to certain narrowly defined social roles. The flip side of this is the penalty for stepping out of these roles. It can be extremely savage. The development of capitalism in India has changed social relationships, but old traditions die hard. Thus, we have dowry murders as a new bride becomes a focus for extortion by the groom's family from the bride's family. We have murders over "family honour" in order to prevent cross-caste marriages. And, in a culture which condones and even celebrates sexual harassment as "eve-teasing", we have official reports of rape at levels so ludicrously low that the signify, not respect for women, but an established policy by the State of blaming the victim.

My reaction to the recent crime which has horrified the world is different from most people. This particular crime is only marginally worse than several I have read of in recent years, so while I am angry, I am not shocked. I am, however, greatly encouraged by the huge public reaction and in particular by the outrage aimed at police and politicians when they attempted to downplay the crime. We may be seeing the beginning of a sea change in India, where rape will be taken seriously and the status of women will improve.

What was done to Brave Heart was intolerable. If her death becomes a turning point for the safety of women in India, however, she will not have died in vain.

Commenter

Greg Platt

Location

Brunswick

Date and time

January 08, 2013, 9:19AM

Robin,

And Indira Ghandi was prime minsiter in the 1980s. The problem is that these events are quite often exceptions to societal norms, hence their remarkability. When they arose, such as with women in leadership roles in the early church, there was usually a pretty swift return to the status quo ante.

In England, Elizabeth and Victoria represent exceptions to the rule and their ascension to the monarchy does not negate the fact that women were generally held to be socially and legally inferior to men.

I certainly agree that evidence is critical to our assessment, but I am reasonably confident that the primary attitude, i.e. discrimination based on cultural notions gender, has a rather ancient pedigree.

The women of India are fighting the same battle that women around the world are fighting, not one unique to them.

So if we insert something in to Dicks sentence (making it kind of unwieldy) we get closer to the issue:

How do we move on from ancient beliefs, customs or behaviour [ in respect to women and their place in society ] that jar with modern attitudes?

Commenter

Geoff Edwards

Location

Flounceaux

Date and time

January 08, 2013, 9:51AM

"for example - Sikh armies were sometimes commanded by women, that women have had leading ceremonial roles in temples and roles in secular authority in the past."

possibly worth noting that

1) Sikhism is in the context of India a relatively modern tradition - 15th Century.2) Sikhs account for about 2% of the total of Indian Society.

Commenter

Geoff Edwards

Location

Flounceaux

Date and time

January 08, 2013, 10:22AM

Robin,Given today's report that the defense attorney is blaming the victim for this evil rape (and will blame the woman in court to defend the rapists) and so called 'holy men' are also claiming that it is somehow the victim's fault - I'm tending to think that this attitude to women is embbed in the culture. These few examples have done nothing to dispel the notion that India is a dangerous place for women where they are seen as property and 'second class'. The scary part is of course that their are many in India (despite the current outrage and protests), that will support the notion of the victim is to blame be it though cutural or religious or so called 'family honour' practices.

Commenter

Evan

Date and time

January 10, 2013, 5:03PM

Just as American Republican friends in Salt Lake city are extremely embarrassed and saddened by events in Sandy Hook so too are Indians in relation to the treatment of one of India's daughters.

A culture of violence against the most vulnerable is not confined to poverty or deprivation and once again the very broad meaning of misogyny is on display.

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